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requirements

Area of Knowledge

APCVNSNS+LRLSS

Context of Experience

ETUSWC

Combinable Context of Experience

PI

Other GenEd

QRW

Capstone/Synthesis

CapSyn

Course of Study

MajorMinor

CUNY Required Core

EC-1EC-2LPSMQR

CUNY Flexible Core

CEISSWUSEDWCGI

QC College Option

LangLitSci

None

None

date(s)

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fromto

1 Proposal: number 147

147. ENGL 255: Global Literatures in English

Contact:

Wayne Moreland

Authors:

Thomas Frosch

Wayne Moreland

Abstract:

Catalog description: This course is a historical study of the diversity ofmodern and contemporary Anglophone and related literatures translated intoEnglish encompassing the transnational and postcolonial nature of much modernwriting in English.

As a consequence of their reading, their research, their discussion, and theirwriting of and about texts from a vast range of authors from a wide range oflocales and writing in a language that is resplendent in its diversity andadaptability, students will become conversant with a myriad of linguistic andliterary traditions and the socio-historic circumstances that shape thesewriters and their response to the world. The class will examine a wide range ofprose styles and narrative approaches, from realism to Тmagic realismУ andwill also pay particular attention to the varied approaches to language thewriters employ. We will read the highly polished prose of one of theacknowledged masters of English language writing, James Joyce; weХll read thewriting of the Polish-born novelist, Conrad; the hybrid languages of Diaz,Rushdie, Smith; the magical and fantastical language of Garcia Marquez. Theassumption of this class is that each writerХs style and language use is theresult not only of his or her aesthetic choices but also the writerХs placein time and the writerХs response to the form of English available (theobvious exception is Garcia Marquez, whose work weХll read in translation).Therefore, we will be trying to understand how the writer uses his or herresources to create meaning, and, moreover, meaning through what in each caseis a ТborrowedУ language.We shall also take a sampling of the critical literature as it abuts ourconcerns.The writings are chosen for their importance and for their ability to be framedas representative of trends,concerns, and literary value. Central to thiscourse is an understanding and an appreciation of the various forms of Englishthat are used by peoples and cultures from around the world, and thecorresponding understanding that these usages are the result of historicalforces and processes that surface in the very definition of diversity Thecourse may include works that were originally written in other languages butwhich have had tremendous impact upon Anglophone writers and are vital tounderstanding the themes of the course.. Students will read poetry, shortfiction, novels, plays, essays, political studies, autobiographies, and travelnarratives. In addition, the course offers a sampling of theoretical readingand readings in criticism.

This course seeks to challenge students by posing offering questions for theirconsideration: What are the qualities of a national literature? How do writersof different backgrounds respond to similar circumstances? What are thedifficulties inherent in forming a literary language from the leavings ofcolonialism? What are the effects of exile or diaspora upon the literaryimagination? How does the writer make use of his or her own ТnationalcultureУ? Or, conversely, what is his or her relationship to a metropolitanculture? How are the realities of race and class confronted in individualtexts? Is the writer a spokesperson for Тhis peopleУ? Or should she be?The course seeks to confront these questions through close readings of primarytexts that would include fiction, non-fiction prose, poetry, and drama; thecourse will also allow and encourage students to read these texts through acritical lens provided by various critics and theorists. The students will beengaged in discussion, in research projects, provide oral presentation, use electronic media, and, of course, through their own writing.